In this type of network, the transmission resources are radio channels. These transmission resources are allocated to the different terminals wanting to transmit data. At a given moment, a plurality of terminals can share the same radio channel which is then sliced into time slots or frequencies.
In this case, a network entity, such as for example a base station, is responsible for deciding on the scheduling of the traffic on this shared radio channel. To this end, when several terminals are capable of transmitting data over the same radio channel, at a given moment it selects one terminal in order to authorize it to access the transmission resource. This selection of a terminal can be carried out on the basis of different types of characteristics.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 6,449,490 describes such a terminal selection method which aims to maximize the quantity of data transmitted by all the terminals wanting to transmit data, whilst ensuring a certain level of fairness between the different terminals.
In this document, provision is made to associate with the terminals of a group of terminals wanting to transmit data, respective values on the basis of which it is possible to select the terminal to which the transmission resource is allocated. Such a value to be associated with a terminal takes account of both conditions of instantaneous transmission and conditions of mean transmission.
Then, under these conditions, the base station allocates a transmission resource to the terminal with which the highest value is associated.
Such a method for managing the scheduling of traffic makes it possible to obtain effective transmission resource management when the terminals are relatively immobile. However, it can be ineffective within a set of terminals the respective movements of which are not homogeneous. In fact, in this case, the conditions of mean transmission of a very mobile terminal can be very deceptive with respect to the current transmission conditions of the terminal. Under such conditions, it is possible to allocate a transmission resource to a terminal which was previously situated in good transmission conditions but is situated in poor transmission conditions at the time of allocation of the transmission resource. A management of the transmission resources is then obtained which may be ineffective.
The present invention will improve the situation in a communication network comprising mobile terminals.